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THE KING IS DEAD LONG LIVE THE KING BY TUG MCCLTCHIN - IMAGES BY ANDRE BERNARD

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THIS YEAR, THE MAN known as The Bull, became the Goat. the image of the bull features proudly in the Michael dunlop Racing logo, and it is a moniker he has worn proudly for many years. But at the isle of Man tt races this year, Michael moved out of the shadows of his late uncle Joey and became the greatest road racer of all time.

The Dunlop name is legend in road racing. And I’m talking traditional road racing, not the other version of road racing on closed circuits we see here in Australia. Most “normal” road racers shudder at the thought of riding an event like the Isle Of Man TT. Streaking past hedgerows, stone walls, wire fences, trees, and even spectators hanging over the walls, all at speeds that make your spleen want to rupture just in anticipation of what could eventuate if it all goes wrong is not every racers’ idea of appropriate work health and safety protocols.

But for some, and particularly the old school racers of Ireland, that is the way things are meant to be. And thankfully for us all, some of these “old school” racers still exist, and Ulsterman Michael Dunlop is now the king of them all.

Early on in the event he earnt his 26th TT win in the first Supersport race, equalling his late Uncle Joey’s record. He then went on to win three more Supersport and Super Twin races over the weekend, and was cruelly robbed of another likely win in the Superbike race when his helmet visor came adrift.

Riders at the Isle Of Man do not use tear-offs to clear their visor when it gets dirty like you commonly see in other forms of racing. Instead, when they have their pit stops for refuelling and tyre changes, they usually either swap helmets for one with a clean visor, or a team mechanic will change the visor on the l ON g l IVE T h E k IN g helmet whilst the rider wears it.

The latter option is the one Michael Dunlop chooses to employ, however this time things didn’t go to plan, and after leaving the pits he was forced to pull to the side of the road, remove his helmet and gloves and fix the visor before putting his helmet and gloves back on and continuing the race. It was a heart-breaking moment, and one that dropped him from the lead down to an eventual 4th place.

Dunlop describes himself as “socially awkward” and isn’t one to mince his words. He’s happy to let other competitors know his feelings, and he is generally predisposed to disliking them. But he is loved by many of the fans, in part because his name is Dunlop. It is a big name to carry, but Michael is staunch. He has created his own fame alongside that famous name. He’s not just loved because he’s a Dunlop. He’s as good as it gets when you talk about road racing heroes, and is adored accordingly.

Part of the attraction for those who idolise him is the way he goes about his racing. He’s not the type to seek attention, nor is he one to sit back and let his crew do all the mechanical work. He’s regularly seen swinging spanners on his bikes in the pits and does much of the bike preparation work himself.

Dunlop runs his own racing operation, on a much lower budget than some of the big name teams. In an interview in 2023 he said, “The problem is I haven’t got much of a choice, because I think I’ve pissed off every team manager, every manufacturer, probably 95% of the paddock, and most of the press because I’m never in any of their programs.”

It’s this plain-speaking, no-nonsense attitude to his racing that endears him to fans around the world. He just wants to race his bikes and beat everyone else. It’s that simple, and it is a truth that appeals to die-hard fans everywhere.

Michael Dunlop also doesn’t try to sugar-coat the sport. He’s not one to talk things up. It’s a tough, brutal sport. He knows better than most just how difficult and dangerous racing at the Isle Of Man is. Things happen at a frenetic pace, so fast that only these elite riders can process what’s before them and execute what they need to do in order not just to be fast, but to survive. The Isle Of Man’s reputation is well earned.

“You know when you ask and people (riders) will talk you through a lap, they’re lying to you, just so you know. There’s no way you remember it all. Unless you nearly put it through a hedge, you just don’t remember what happened. You’re that focussed on what you’re doing, you’re concentrating on this part of the circuit, then you’re concentrating on the next part and before you know it, you’re through it.” said Dunlop, trying to explain the frenetic nature of TT racing.

He’s also one of the last of the elite traditional road racers. Many of his competitors don’t confine themselves to road racing alone, but also compete regularly in the British Superbike Championship and other championships, such as Australia’s own Josh Brookes who finished a brilliant 2nd to Davey Todd in this year’s Senior TT race (Dunlop was forced to retire on lap 1 of that race). Guys like that race more regularly than Dunlop, and on a variety of circuits. Dunlop tends to stick with the traditional road race format.

But it does leave him at a disadvantage. Seat time is important in motorcycle racing, and the less you have of it, the less prepared you tend to be. Dunlop knows this to be true.

“The job’s getting harder, you know. A lot of people who go road racing, probably 99% of the people who go road racing don’t go road racing the way we went road racing. I learned by heritage. I can only go by what me Dad done, and what way Joey done it. Those boys drunk beer and smoked cigarettes, now everybody’s wearing sunglasses.”

“Everybody’s now an athlete, which is hard too because I’m not an advertisement for an athlete a protein shake for me is a pint of beer, It’s got all the stuff you need in it. It’s got Barley, and it’s got all the rest of the stuff you need.”

It’s hard not to love Irish road racers, huh?

And in another interesting twist, Michael Dunlop is now, as of a few months ago, riding around public roads on a learners permit. He has never had a motorcycle license for riding on the road. You’d be surprised how many motorcycle racers don’t ride bikes day to day like the rest of us. Motorcycling for them is a very different beast than it is for you and I. It means something completely different to them.

Then there’s his family story, and when you combine his talents and demeanour with the history of one of the greatest motorcycle racing families we’ve ever seen, you get something that Hollywood really should be making a movie about.

Michael’s uncle Joey Dunlop is one of the most famous racers the world has known. 26 wins and 41 podiums at the Isle Of Man TT is one pretty obvious way to become a legend. He also won at the Ulster Grand Prix 24 times, and was awarded an OBE for his humanitarian work supporting children in orphanages in Romania, Albania, and elsewhere in the Balkans.

Joey died in a crash during a race in Estonia on the 2nd of July, 2000. It was reported that fifty thousand people attended Joey’s funeral procession, such was his impact on the people of Northern Ireland, the road racing community, and the motorcycling world.

Joey’s brother Robert, father to Michael and his older brother William, was also a top-level racer, with 5 TT wins to his name, as well as 15 wins at the North West 200. His career looked to be over when he suffered a high-speed crash caused by a collapsing rear wheel on his Honda RC45. He incurred terrible damage to his right leg and arm, but somehow returned to racing some time later. Joey once remarked that Robert was “ very unlucky. Every time he falls off, he hits something hard.”

In 2008 in practice for the North West 200, where both of his sons were also entered to race, Robert crashed due to a mechanical failure at high speed. He died in hospital that night.

Despite pleas from event organisers to withdraw from the event, both William and Michael fronted up to race the next day. Michael went out and took the first win of his career.

A new legend was forming right in front of the eyes of the road racing world. He took to the podium, collected his trophy, cried like a baby, and went straight home to his grieving mother. There were no celebrations.

In 2018, in practice for the Skerries 200 at Dublin, Michael’s older brother William was killed in a crash. William left behind his wife Janine, his first daughter Ella, and second daughter Willa, who was born two months after he died.

Michael Dunlop has lost his uncle, his father, and his brother to the sport that he loves so dearly. And now, he has become the greatest Isle Of Man TT competitor of all time.

If there is a more perfect allegory for the very core of motorcycle racing, and its effect on those of us who adore it, than the Dunlop family story, I am yet to find it.

Even after his 4th victory of the event, taking his total to 29 TT wins, Michael Dunlop was coy about what it meant. There was no chest beating. It was just Michael Dunlop doing Michael Dunlop things the way Michael Dunlop does them. Little fanfare, other than that which was forced upon him by organisers and the media, and great reverence for his uncle whose record he had just smashed. He said “Everyone’s inspiration was to be a Joey Dunlop around the Isle of Man. I’m no better than Joey, never was,”. He added, “Joey’s record stood for 24 years and it’s an honour. Joey was a special talent. My record will be beaten one day, but I don’t care.”

Michael can be prickly. Brutish. Even rude. But I forgive him all of that. He is the fiercest of competitors, and in a sport that is probably the very last of the gladiatorial battlefields, I will admire him simply for who he is. The ultimate competitor.

In a little town in rural Northern Ireland sits a picturesque church, and next to it a beautifully tended graveyard. In it lay Joey, Robert, and William Dunlop, all buried by the same priest. One day, Michael will join them. But with a little of the luck that is overdue to the Dunlop family, it will be a very long way off.

Left: Australia’s Josh Brookes raced to 2nd in the Senior TT for

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